About Life Ki-do

What does Life Ki-domean?

Ki (KEE) can be translated to “inner strength or spirit,” and do (DOH) means “the way.” The word life in this context is “your relationship with yourself, others, and the world around you.” So Life Ki-do means “the way of living from your own inner strength and spirit and honoring the same in others.”

About Life Ki-do

Life Ki-do was founded by Jonathan Hewitt and his wife Lana Hewitt. Life Ki-do was born out of Jonathan’s personal quest to find inner happiness, peace and fulfillment. As a child he was an ardent follower of what he now calls the American Happiness Formula: Look Good + Perform Well + Get Approval = Happiness. But this path never added up to the happiness he sought, leaving him feeling frustrated, empty and determined to find answers.

With a degree in psychology from Emory University, and 25 years in intensive study and training in meditation, mindfulness and martial arts, Jonathan eventually found within himself everything he was looking for from others. Wanting to share what he had discovered, Jonathan distilled all that he had learned into a concise, simple, and relevant life skill system for today’s world. Lana Hewitt also has many years of study in meditation and mindfulness as well as a background in design and marketing helping to bring the work of Life Ki-do to light.

For the past 22 years, Jonathan has taught martial arts and life skills to thousands of children ages 3 to 19 at his Life Ki-do Martial Arts Academy in Austin, Texas. While Life Ki-do began as a martial arts program for children, it has always been the life skills that have been the main attraction. Children love Life Ki-do karate classes because they feel so good about themselves; and parents love that they can see real and deep positive transformations in their children.

With parents constantly asking for more information about how they could reinforce at home what their children were learning in Life Ki-do classes, Jonathan and Lana have written a parenting book, Life Ki-do Parenting: Tools to Raise Happy, Confident Kids from the Inside Out. Life Ki-do has also expanded into both public and private academic schools.

Although Jonathan and Lana are founders and creators of the Life Ki-do program, they are deeply grateful for and would like to acknowledge the great support, inspiration and input from Sensei Doug Diamond, Sensei Tommy Shultz, Sempai Deven Penn, Sempai Ed Paray, Sempai Bruno Lepore, Sensei Gene Smithson, and Academy Director Jeff Campbell.

Jonathan and Lana live in Austin with their daughter Emilia who is by far their greatest collaboration to date and who melts their hearts daily.